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Blind and Visually Impaired Community

Full History - 2020 - 08 - 10 - ID#i7142q
16
As a teen or youth, what do you wish the sighted people around you would have done differently? (self.Blind)
submitted by paigeelizabeth3660
I work overnights in group homes for youth with behavioral or family issues. A few nights a month I work in a home with a teenage girl who is blind. I have never worked with a youth who is blind before and want to educate myself on how to make the home as welcoming as possible for her. I wanted to reach out to this community and ask, as a teen, what do you wish the sighted adults around you understood? She sometimes bumps into things, is it helpful or patronizing if I remind her where objects are? I have been hesitant to ask her these questions directly as I don't know her well yet and don't want to make her feel singled out.
LexieDream 10 points 2y ago
Best thing to do is ask how you can help her. I wish people had done that and would still do that today.
Too many people make assumptions about a blind person’s abilities, awareness, and actual visual abilities. I.E: Some seem to mis understand that there are many ranges of visual impairment.

Anyway, thank you for trying to figure out how to help, instead of just assuming.
Far too many people will just grab a blind person by the sleeve and direct them away from an object, instead of just saying “hey, there’s a [item] in front of you.”

I had somebody just yesterday tell me I was at the intersection, when I had walked up with my guide dog, pressed the pedestrian signal button, and asked my dog to sit and wait — before the person had said anything.
I thought, “no sh—“, and just ignored her.
paigeelizabeth3660 [OP] 1 points 2y ago
Thank you for taking the time to respond! It seems the overwhelming consensus is to ask her direct. I was concerned about asking her needs directly since I didn't want to make her uncomfortable, but its sounding like an open dialogue is precisely what is necessary to make her feel welcome.
msimmons024 10 points 2y ago
It depends a lot case by case. The best IMO would just be to ask her what things she would like help with. For me, if I don’t want anyone to say anything when I bump into things, unless it’s going to hit my face. A lot of adults think I’m some sort of superhero for being blind, while in reality, I’m just a kid who needs extra help with somethings. The best advise I can give u is to just ask her what she wants u to do. U seem like a very caring person, and I’m glad ur reaching out to educate yourself
paigeelizabeth3660 [OP] 2 points 2y ago
Thank you! I wasn't sure whether asking her if and when she needs assistance would be uncomfortable or insulting. I hope I can have a more open dialogue with her soon, I just wanted to make sure I wasn't being out of bounds first.
DrillInstructorJan 6 points 2y ago
I wasn't blind when I was in my mid teens, but since then I have been asked to spend time with several young people who have recently lost sight and I am aware of some of the problems they have had. I am not a professional at this like you. I am a volunteer, and I am very aware of that.

The first thing is to ask her. What makes it hard to advise is that I have no idea what her situation is, whether it's recent sight loss or long term, what the situation is at home, how supportive the family is, whether she's got other health or life issues going on, and all that stuff. I don't know what she's like as a person. People constantly overlook that. I've worked with one person who was really mousy and quiet, a really academic person who needed one approach. Another young woman had been captain of the hockey team and was totally the opposite.

Personally, when I lost my sight, I was always very resistant to various kinds of officially provided help on the basis that they all did certain things that I found incredibly annoying, mainly because they were patronising. Believe me, she already feels singled out. Don't pull her out of stuff to talk to her in private, that's just lampshading the whole thing, but maybe do have a quiet word off to one side about what you're doing and how she feels about it. Ask her that. Don't ask her if she wants specific things done. Ask her to evaluate you. Then maybe ask specifics.

One big thing. A lot of professionals in this sort of field have a very specific professional vocal tone that gets used a lot. Maybe you don't personally do that, I don't know, but for instance don't think of someone as "a youth," I mean, who says that! OK, I'm picking you up on that just as an example, I don't mean to be unfair, but you see what I mean. It's an extension of the obvious stuff about not speaking to people in a slow clear voice as if they've got an IQ smaller than their shoe size. You know that. But professionals do tend to slip into a particular vocal register and use a lot of stock phrases and specialist vocabulary. You don't want to do that.

If she's down about her sight, do not tell her that she can do anything and it won't hold her back in the slightest. Depending how bad it is, that's not actually very comforting because it's patently untrue and people do it constantly as a sort of nervous reaction. I don't live every day in a pit of horrible despair but I'm never going to like being blind. I'm never going to be a police officer, a bicycle courier, a painter and decorator or any one of a thousand other things that I can't do because I can't see. She knows that. Don't tell her she can have a life just as good. If she desperately wanted to be a fighter pilot, she's not going to have a life as good as that, at least in her own estimation, and you're not going to persuade her out of it with a display of positivity. The way to get people out of that funk is to train them up to the point where they can achieve something worthwhile. Self-respect comes from achievement, not (or not solely) from being told you can leap tall buildings in a single bound when you know very well you can't.

Oh, and definitely, definitely involve her buddies. Going out with her buddies will be an amazingly valuable thing for her, at least going by my experience and those of the people I've seen. Again, if this is a recent thing, they need the same learning process you do. One of my padawan learners was walked into a sign board by one of her mates which left both of them feeling bad - she didn't want to use the cane, of course, which let it happen.

Practically: don't leave doors half open. It's normal not to use the cane around the house, I don't, but a half open door has a way of allowing the cane to go around it while you then walk into it, which hurts. Tidy up, learn to leave stuff in exactly, exactly the same position. And if there are animals around, keep them restrained.
paigeelizabeth3660 [OP] 1 points 2y ago
Thank you for providing such a thoughtful, detailed response. Without getting to much into the specifics, to respect her privacy, due to some Covid related restrictions she has recently lost a lot of contact with her friends who are mostly blind, and is now almost exclusively surrounds by sighted people. I think because I have been noticing how suddenly isolated she is from her typical support network, I've both felt the need to make the home welcoming, and also fearful if I approached her directly with questions that I would make her feel more singled out or isolated.

I genuinely appreciate you taking the time to give some ideas on how to approach having these discussions with her.
DrillInstructorJan 1 points 2y ago
One thing that springs to mind about what you've said is that she has a lot of blind friends normally, but hasn't been able to contact them much.

This may just be my politics (in fact I'm pretty sure it is) but there may actually be a bit of an upside to her hanging out with sighted people. Personally I never wanted my life to be totally absorbed into it but people who are born into it, or end up in this situation really early, can end up with every aspect of their lives being determined by being blind. I mean, how many blind people are there in the world, and what proportion of her buddies are blind? That's not just happened by chance, and I'm not sure it's really that healthy. Life chances including things like employability, at least outside incredibly narrow fields with very limited income potential, are going to depend very heavily on this person being able to survive and operate and do well outside the world she's used to.

I'd say take it as an opportunity to step outside the comfort zone. She can't live her whole life in blind world. There's a whole world out there. Someone tell me if I'm being too harsh.
ChellVaquita 5 points 2y ago
I wish they would’ve asked questions, instead of mocking me for being “different”. I was basically ignored by my peers.
But generally asking questions, that are not demeaning would help greatly.
bradley22 3 points 2y ago
I wish I was aloud out a lot more to make sighted friends.
je97 3 points 2y ago
The pest thing you could do for her is help her become independent. Don't smuther and shelter her if she wants to do things, just because she's blind. Obviously this might be different if she has other conditions.
viceroywaffles 2 points 2y ago
Offered me rides. It feels sooo awkward to ask. Especially because you have to ask all the time. When I was a teen everyone was getting their licenses and going places and would often forget that this wasn't an option for me. Invite those who can't drive themselves. Offer pickups. It does a lot of good to feel included and wanted.
paigeelizabeth3660 [OP] 1 points 2y ago
Thank you! That's something I hadn't really thought about, but is super practical advice.
chloem86 1 points 2y ago
Ask how to help- but be aware that she might not be used to people asking (I’m still not used to people asking if I need help and my automatic answer is “NO! I’m fine!”)
Just be patient, if she needs help she’ll ask- just make sure she knows that she can trust you for help if she needs it.
Depending on her own personality, she might appreciate it if you ask her questions about how she gets around (does she memorise the room etc.)
nowwerecooking 1 points 2y ago
helping her to gain independence and also just being upfront and asking her how you can help/what she needs
Ant5477 1 points 2y ago
Yt
guitarandbooks 1 points 2y ago
Just ask her. When I was a teen, I wish people had just asked me what was on their minds instead of assuming things and leaving me out of the equation. Unfortunately, this didn't get much better as an adult.
noaimpara 1 points 2y ago
Depends on everyone, but for me, I could have done with less infantilizing and more independance. Everything was done for me and dumbed down which was extremely frustrating. My mom would take this condescending voice all the time explaining obvious things or visual cues that absolutely did not need.
Leckzsluthor 1 points 2y ago
For me, it was not to treat me like a wounded animal. People would constantly be down and morbid and serious around me so as to not "offend me" It was depressing. People would walk on eggshells and not say "risky" things. I wish people just didn't treat me differently than I was, still act fun and make jokes around me, and say what's on their mind. Often in an effort to be accommodating to the blind people end up otherizing even more.
paigeelizabeth3660 [OP] 1 points 2y ago
I appreciate your honesty. One of my biggest concerns is balancing making useful accommodations and not making her feel singled out. I probably have been overthinking too many things and making our interactions sort of unnatural. Thank you for helping me see things from that perspective.
macadamia_owl 1 points 2y ago
At that time I wished that people stop not talking with me like with regular person not be afraid and talking with ME not with my parent about me when I'm right here and you can ask me I have bad vision im not mute 🔇 I can speak actually it still happens. Leave doors fully open or completely closed, don't forget to close hanging closets same with windows. If you're talking with him/her speak in that direction don't look at that time on your smartphone/PC or other sound travels trough room and even fully blind will hear that you're not kind of fully paying attention - its just nice thing. Smile 😃 when greeting - I cannot see faces expression or their movements but kind of I feel when someone is saying "hello, good morning etc" and smiling and fake smile is heard kind of differently.
paigeelizabeth3660 [OP] 1 points 2y ago
I hadn't thought of many of those things, I greatly appreciate your feedback!
RJHand 1 points 2y ago
Ask how you can help her, see what she prefers.
[deleted] 1 points 2y ago
[deleted]
Ant5477 1 points 2y ago
https://www.youtube.com/c/3rdeyevisions
Ant5477 1 points 2y ago
Have you ever thought about maybe offering her maybe a cane, or some sort to detect objects that are in her way?
paigeelizabeth3660 [OP] 2 points 2y ago
She has a cane which she sometimes uses, but she often chooses not to use it within the home.
Ant5477 1 points 2y ago
This may help, I have a talk, show, where she can listen to other individuals who are independent and maybe that may provide some inspiration if you would like the link, also you can check it out as well
paigeelizabeth3660 [OP] 2 points 2y ago
Send that link my way! I'm always happy to have some new resources.
Ant5477 0 points 2y ago
https://www.youtube.com/c/3rdeyevisions
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